Global News

NATO is condemning Russia’s new treaty with the breakaway province of Abkhazia, which the west still recognizes as part of Georgia.  The deal raises concerns that the lush strip of land along the eastern shore of the Black Sea amounts to another Russian land grab.

An air and sea search has been called off for an elderly cruise ship passengers who apparently went overboard.  A security camera showed the man had dropped into the ocean about 280 kilometers east of Sydney, the Sun Princess’ destination.

There’s tear gas and smoke hanging over Middle America again tonight, after a grand jury in Saint Louis, Missouri decided not to charge a white police officer with the killing of an unarmed, black teen.  Protests broke out in the town of Ferguson, where Michael Brown was killed, and other US Cities.

Kenyan security forces say they tracked and killed more than 100 Islamist militants and destroyed their camp in Somalia, after Saturday’s terrorist ambush of a Nairobi-bound bus from which 28 non-Muslim passengers were separated from the rest and murdered.

Uruguayan President Jose Mujica released a statement retracting his earlier comments, which seemed to go a little harsh on Mexico.  Mujica was responding to reporters questions about drug gang violence and the missing 43 student teachers from Guerrero state, calling Mexico a “failed state”.

Russian President Vladimir Putin says he does not want to be president for life.  Putin, who has come to more or less rule Russia by decree since he was first elected in 2000, says he expects to be president for another decade, “if” he runs again.

Italian and Libyan officials nearly 800 people were rescued from rickety boats in distress in the Mediterranean Sea over the weekend.  All are would-be migrants who paid human traffickers to help them escape from the Middle East or Africa.

Israel’s cabinet approved controversial legislation that officially define the country as the nation-state of the Jewish people.  Critics say that puts Israel’s democracy in second place and fails to protect the rights of the 20 percent of the population that isn’t Jewish.

More than two-dozen people are murdered by terrorist a bus attack – A strong earthquake jolt Japan’s winter resort area – China appears to be building a landing strip in territory claimed by other countries – And more in your CareerSpot World News Briefs:

A UN Security Council statement puts Australia in an uncomfortable spot – After two years of pointless hearings, US conservatives finally admit there was no conspiracy in Benghazi – No time can erase their crimes, as justice comes for fascists – And more in your CareerSpot World News Briefs:

The anti-immigration, anti-Europe UK Independence Party (UKIP) won a second seat in parliament by a large margin, signaling a possible problem for Prime Minister David Cameron and the Tory party just six months out from the next general election.

Tunisia’s status as the only place where the “Arab Spring” actually worked will face a major test this weekend, when voters return to the polls in the first round of the presidential election.  It will be the first freely contested presidential election in Tunisia’s history.

The Dutch teen whose mother rescued from Islamic State (IS) in Syria is expected in court on suspicion of threatening state security.  19-year old “Aicha” had run away earlier this year to marry a high-ranking IS fighter, but her mother went to the IS stronghold of Raqqa, Syria to bring her back.

US President Barack Obama unveiled his plan to fix what he can with America’s broken immigration system.  Limited to the power of his executive authority, he dared his critics in congress:  If they didn’t like what he was doing, then they should pass a law of their own making. 

At least 45 people are dead in the latest Boko Haram attack in Nigeria’s northeastern Borno state, where the terrorist group is attempting to carve itself out an Islamic “caliphate” based on a bloodthirsty interpretation of sharia law.  So far, Boko Haram has killed more than 2,000 people this year.

Relatives of the 43 students who went missing in southern Mexico have led mass protests in the capital, decrying corruption and the spread of the drug gangs.  Many of the families are holding out hope, and do not believe the government’s claim that the 43 were murdered and crudely cremated by one of the drug gangs.

North Korea is threatening to conduct a fourth nuclear weapons test in response to the United Nations Human Rights Committee recommending Pyongyang be hauled before the International Criminal Court (ICC) at the Hague for human rights abuses.

An ingredient in antibacterial soaps, toothpaste, and other common household items promoted liver tumor growth in mice, according to a new study.  The chemical in question is Triclosan, the same stuff that earlier research linked to disrupted hormonal development, a reduction in bacterial resistance, and an increase in allergies.

Colombia’s Marxist FARC rebels will release a kidnapped army general and four other hostages under an agreement announced in Havana.  Peace talks to end Colombia’s five-decade-old insurgency were chugging along, until the abductions brought all progress crashing to a halt.

A court in Pakistan has sentenced four people including members of a family to death for the “honor killing” (known elsewhere as “murder”) of a pregnant woman outside the country’s High Court.  Her own kin stoned 30-year old Farzana Parveen to death because they objected to her marriage.